Redemption
by estar9821
Summary: Aang fails to defeat Ozai during Sozin's Comet, succeeding only in preventing him from using its power against the Earth Kingdom.  With his friends captured, he is all alone until his past lives bring him help in the form of four girls from Earth.
1. Chapter 1:  A Strange Visitor

A/N: This is a story involving four OCs, characters from our world, who are sent to help Aang restore balance. This is post Sozin's Comet. The first few chapters don't deal very much w/ATLA, but please bear with me, it will get there. Read and review!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own ATLA.

_Chapter 1: A Strange Visitor_

_Hot…._was the only coherent thought that could be formed from amongst the jumbled emotions and words swimming through Kiera's head. It was true enough. The mercury was pushing dangerously close to record levels at 106 degrees Fahrenheit, which was hot even for Virginia. The humidity didn't help either. _If only I was a waterbender…_Kiera thought, a wry smile flicking over her face, _then I could bend the humidity out of the air…couldn't change the heat, though…_

She was distracted by a fly buzzing past. She followed it with her eyes until it came to a rest on her nose. She let it be, feeling too lazy to swat at it. _So hot…_

"KIERA!" shouted her friend Kayse, who seemed to not be slowed down at all by the heat. "Snap out of it!"

"Huh?" Kiera sat up, startling the fly, which flew away, buzzing. "Wha?" All her friends were looking at her expectantly. Christine, the slight Vietnamese girl, was wearing her usual smile with a slightly concerned look as well. Lilly was raising an eyebrow and putting her long, brown hair up in a bun, waiting for a response, while Kayse just looked exasperated. They were sitting outside on Kiera's front lawn. It was mid August, and summer boredom was in full swing. However, none of the girls were anxious to return to school, knowing that junior year would bring tough workloads.

Kayse sighed. "We were asking if you would drive us…" the girl with the wavy brown hair and bangs prompted her impatiently.

"Where?" Kiera asked, still confused. She mentally cursed herself for zoning out. She did that way too much…one moment she would be just talking, and the next staring off into space, lost in fantasies and daydreams.

Kayse shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Wow, you were really out of it, weren't you…"

"To downtown. " Lilly explained, bluntly. "It's hot and boring, so we thought we could go look through the shops there. In the AC." The girl smiled, emphasizing the last two letters. She waved a hand at the sky to indicate the heat.

Kiera looked up at the sun, which was glaring down at her. It was hot as hell and she was bored to tears, so she agreed immediately. "Perfect. Let's ditch the heat." In one fell swoop, Kiera slipped out of her chair and to her feet, grabbing her keys and jingling them as she called to her mom that they were leaving.

Twenty minutes later found Christine walking down a bustling town street with her friends. Passersby swirled past in a hurry, a crushing rainbow of color. Christine began to feel a touch of claustrophobia. She stuck to her friends like glue. Lilly was texting a boy who had been in their English class the past year, and Christine was looking down at what she was typing to distract herself from the trapped feeling of the claustrophobia. She heard coughing behind her. Whirling around, she found it was merely Kiera. They were passing a smoker. Christine smiled, rolling her eyes slightly. Kiera always made a point of coughing as she passed someone smoking, thinking that it might make them quit. As if. But the smoke wasn't doing anything to help with the sweltering heat, especially not coupled with the belches of car exhaust mixing in from the road.

Out of the corner of her eye, Christine saw a flash of white fur slinking behind a large man in khakis with a purple umbrella. "Hey, did you guys see that?" she cried, pointing to where it had been.

"See what? That guy?" asked Lilly, frowning and staring at Christine, slightly weirded out.

"Let's try to find it again. Wait – there it is!" called Christine, sprinting after an odd white creature about the size of a small cat. It had brown markings on its back, a long tail, and huge ears.

Christine weaved through the crowd, every now and then seeing a flash of white darting around someone's feet and changing her course accordingly. She knew she was attracting attention, running through the crowded sidewalk like this, but she felt strangely compelled to follow the animal, as if it were a magnet and she a piece of iron. She just _had _to catch the creature. It slipped into an alley, and she followed. It had stopped in front of a doorway and was staring at her. Christine stopped too, to catch her breath.

Looking around, she saw that no one else was looking at the creature. That was odd. She thought that someone would pick it up and try to find its owner, at least. She figured that it had to be a lost pet. But no one seemed to notice it. A woman was walking along and texting at the same time. She was going to walk right into the creature! Christine made a move to help the animal, but before she could do anything, the woman walked right through it. The creature didn't even blink. The realization made her stiffen. No one else _could_ see it. She looked at it harder. There was something very familiar about the creature, like it was a childhood memory she couldn't place. Then it came to her. She recognized it from TV!

Just as she was starting to freak out, her friends finally rounded the corner, panting.

"Christine, pardon my language, but what the hell?" asked Kiera, who really didn't enjoy running on hot days.

"What took you guys so long? I found the animal, but it's…well, I think it's a ghost!" Christine was speaking very fast, her eyes huge, waving her hands over her head.

"Some of us aren't as thin as you and can't really squeeze through crowds like that…" Lilly began scolding her. "Wait, what?" she blinked.

Christine pointed to the creature on the doorway, which was still staring at them. She looked at her friends. Kiera and Kayse froze, while Lilly just looked at it in annoyance, because it had made her run. But they all definitely seemed to notice that it was there.

"So you can see it too." Said Christine. It wasn't a question. "I think it's from…"

But Kiera had suddenly gone pale. "Oh…my…God. It can't be…." She trailed off, but her eyes flickered in recognition. Kayse beat her to it.

"MOMO!" Kayse yelled excitedly, causing the few passersby in the alley to glare at her indignantly.


	2. Chapter 2:  Silver

A/N: I promise the next chapter will involve more ATLA characters.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own ATLA.

Chapter 2: Silver

Lilly just blinked at Kayse. "Momo?" She asked, confused. Racking her brain for "Momo" she came up short. How did everyone else seem to understand? They all ignored her. Christine was too busy staring at Kiera and Kayse, Kiera was freaking out, and Kayse was staring at "Momo", the creature.

Kiera rested her forehead on her hand, mentally calculating. "How can Momo be here…and how can we all see him? He's from that cartoon, Avatar….are we having a mass hallucination? Christine, you said no one else can see him, right?"

Christine nodded.

Lilly squinted to see this Momo better. He was still in the same spot as before, but he seemed to be getting impatient. He was chattering and making odd noises. She squinted harder. It was difficult to make him out in the heat. His edges were blurred from the haze. _No, wait…hang on, that isn't haze! _she thought. _He's glowing blue!_ She told this to Kiera and Kayse.

"He must be in the spirit world then." Said Kiera. "That would explain how no one else can see him."

"Yeah, like in Avatar when Roku was talking to Aang." Recalled Kayse.

"But then how can _we _see him. In the show, people who weren't in the spirit world couldn't see those who were." Christine said. "Unless…" she froze, eyes wide. "_we_ are in the spirit world."

"Don't be ridiculous." Said Kayse.

"Ridiculous!" shouted Lilly, her patience finally snapping. "You guys are going on about a CARTOON CHARACTER for Pete's sake, THAT'S what's ridiculous. He's probably just some lost pet."

"Then _why_ is he glowing blue?" pointed out Kiera.

Kayse began walking toward Momo. "I think he wants us to follow him."

Seeing that they were finally following, Momo darted into the doorway. Lilly could swear there was a hint of "Took you long enough" in his chattering.

Stepping into the cool interior of the doorway, the four teens let their eyes adjust to the darkness. They were in a thrift shop. Piles of junk and treasures, antiques and toys, lay jumbled around the shop. The only other person in the shop was an elderly Asian man who was smiling and sitting behind the front desk. Momo had disappeared. Lilly crouched down to look under the tables, but the lemur was nowhere to be found.

"He's gone." She announced.

Kiera shuddered. "Let's get out of here, then." She said. She was still shaken from their encounter.

Christine sighed. "Come on, we came here to shop anyway. Let's at least have a look around." She said, motioning to the others to follow. Kayse was already inspecting an antique dagger.

Lilly walked deeper into the shop. She walked down an aisle mainly to get away from the old man, because she could feel his eyes following her and it made her feel strange. She started to inspect the piles of antiques. She found a dusty old bonnet made of straw and lace. She picked it up, but the upheaval caused a wave of dust to hit her and she sneezed, recoiling into the shelf behind her, knocking down a few items. Panicking, she dropped down on her hands and knees to make sure nothing had broken. She reshelved an old box of playing cards and a feather quill, which threatened to make her sneeze again, before she came upon a tarnished silver bracelet on the lowest shelf. She didn't know why, but she felt an odd attraction to the bracelet. It was made up of several silver rectangles held together by chains. The rectangles had odd sharp spirals on them, in the shapes of squares. She picked it up and inspected it, brushing the dirt off. On the inside were odd symbols that looked to her like Chinese lettering. She read the price tag. $10. Not bad. Not bad at all. It looked like real silver. She smiled, then went to find her friends.

…..

Kayse glared at Christine, who was holding an old silver bracelet just as she was. "Wait, there's more than one of them? Darn, I thought I had the only one!"

"Wait," said Christine, comparing them. "They're different. Yours is braided with the dragon head at the end, and mine has these swoopy shapes. And they have different characters on the inside too."

"Both only $10 though. They must be part of a set. I wonder why they weren't together…" mused Kayse.

Just then, Kiera came walking toward them, smiling and holding a silver bracelet. "Hey guys, look what I found!" she proudly held up her bracelet, which had sleek spiral shapes, but then noticed the other bracelets and lifted an eyebrow. Lilly walked in on the scene with her bracelet as well.

"Ok, that's just creepy." She said. "How did you guys find bracelets like mine?"

"We all came upon them independently…" said Kayse. "This is weird, guys…first Momo, then this. What does it all mean?" She was starting to have second thoughts about this whole thing. Then she looked down at her bracelet. It was so alluring….she was drawn to it. She couldn't not buy it.

The others seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Let's just buy the bracelets and get out of here." Suggested Kiera.

They did just that. The shopkeeper didn't say a word as he rang them up.

…..

"Ok, I've had enough weirdness for one day." Said Lilly, looking tired, as they all got back into the car.

"Amen to that." Said Kiera, sitting in the driver's seat. Her bracelet was dangling on her wrist, as were Kayse's and Christine's. Lilly looked down at hers. She was the only one not wearing her bracelet. To be honest, the whole incident with "Momo", and the odd matching bracelets had kind of freaked her out a bit. She was a little scared to put the bracelet on. However, looking at it, she felt that strange pull again. She had to put it on. Taking a deep breath, Lilly slipped hers on as well. It immediately began to glow the same shade of blue as Momo's aura. The brunette gasped, trying to pull it off, but it felt as if it were glued to her skin – not tight, just immovable.

All four girls shrieked as they noticed the blue glow spreading over their bodies and felt a crushing sensation, as if they were having the life squeezed out of them. The world was slowly fading out of existence, and was replaced by…darkness. Lilly began to get scared as the darkness closed around her, before she realized that her eyes were closed. She opened them. Everything was blurry. As her eyes slowly focused, she saw…a boy.


	3. Chapter 3:  Alone

A/N: As promised, this chapter deals with ATLA characters However, this is a sad chapter. I was sniffling as I wrote this.

Read and review, please!

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own ATLA.

Chapter 3: Alone

Aang watched from behind a rock pile as Ozai rocketed through the comet-streaked sky, searching for him. Tired, weak, and injured, it took all of Aang's strength to merely bend a rocky enclosure for him to hide under. Shielded from Ozai, he looked down at the searing wound in his side. It was a gash, and it was deep. Ozai had hit him with a fireball that he had been able to deflect only partially, leaving his forearms badly burned. The shock wave from the blast had sent him careening into a sharp rock spire, which had cut deep into his side, and sent him falling, falling….

He had only just been able to cushion his fall with airbending, and stay hidden from Ozai, who was prowling around like a hunter searching for prey, looking to finish him. From Aang's vantage point, however, he could see the fleet of airships burning to the ground. _Sokka's doing,_ he thought, with a wan smile. The Fire Nation could not abuse the comet's power against the Earth Kingdom now.

A sharp pain shot up his body, and his hand instinctively touched his side. Lifting his hand from the wound, he gasped. It was covered with blood. He had to staunch the bleeding, or he would die.

Feeling lightheaded, he tore strips of cloth from his pants, pressing a bundle of them against his wound, and using the rest to tightly tie the bandage in place. Still blinking in and out of consciousness, he turned back to the burning ships. What he saw made his throat go dry.

Ozai had returned to his soldiers, unable to locate Aang. The soldiers had captured Toph, Sokka, and Suki, holding them prisoner. Seeing his friends with their heads down, imprisoned, Aang began to cry. He couldn't think clearly in his painful state of mind, but he knew that their imprisonment was _his_ fault. He should have been able to stop the Fire Lord. He had failed to open his chakras. He had failed the world.

His last sight before he slipped out of consciousness was of the last ribbons of color from the comet leaving the sky.

….

Katara feverishly tried to heal Zuko's lightning wound, as Azula rolled around on the floor, consumed with insanity. She had moved Zuko to a safe distance from Azula's bursts of blue flame, but it did not look as if he was healing. She stopped bending for a moment and placed her ear to his chest. It was warm. He still had a heartbeat. There was nothing more she could do for now. She only hoped he would come to. If he didn't….it was _her_ fault. She never should have interfered with the agni kai. Stupid. _Stupid._ She cursed herself, mentally beating herself up as tears streaked down her face.

Coming to her senses, she realized that she needed to get out of there, immediately. If Aang had failed in defeating the Fire Lord, they were in great danger. But she was afraid to move Zuko. It might interfere with his healing process. She bent water that was standing in puddles on the ground from her fight with Azula, using it to lift Zuko off the ground. But it was hard work. Zuko was heavy, and she didn't have much water to use. She was afraid to go near Azula to get water from the vents. She began running for an exit with Zuko in tow, when she heard a blast behind her. Azula!

The princess had melted her chains and seemed to have regained some composure. Her fingertips were smoking. Katara started to gently let Zuko down in order to fight Azula, but before she could, Azula shot another fire blast, missing Katara by inches. The waterbender could feel the heat. The ends of her hair were singed. The shock wave from the blast pushed her backwards into a wall, knocking her unconscious. Zuko, soaking wet, fell to the ground, along with the water.

Azula began cackling, loudly. Several guards ran down to her. Seeing them, she pointed at the waterbender and the banished prince. "Guards, ARREST THEM!" she shrieked maniacally. "Tomorrow, they are to be BEHEADED!"

…

Meanwhile, in a small village somewhere in the vicinity of Omashu, four girls from another world were waking up.


End file.
